Tired of hearing about luck.

[babywhales]

The Pats didn't mind luck when Billy Kundiff shanked a 30 yarder with 10 seconds left.

Pats didn't mind the "Tuck rule" either starting the dynasty off, instead of possibly denying it. How lucky was that against the Raiders?

 

Very quick to ignore circumstance when it favors them, yet dwell on it when chance favors others........

[Sect122Mike]

Not really, no. I mean, Stokley got injured as soon as he got here. And Gilbride didn't like him anyway so it's not like he was going to play a major role. In any case Cruz's excellent play had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with talent, opportunity, and hard work. That's just the way I see it.

In sports there are always circumstances beyond the control of talent and hard work. You just called it "opportunity."  What is opportunity to you is luck to another.  The fact is that Cruz is there for reasons both within and beyond his control.  Nothing there diminishes his hard work and talent.  But if thats all it took, there would be a lot more Cruz's each year.  The idea is to work hard and excel when the opportunity arrives.  But the reason that opportunity arose may surely be considered lucky by any objective standard.     

[Stugots]

Right, it's luck that our scouting department put together a young receiving core that is arguably the best in the league.

Luck that that same scouting department drafted three pro bowl defensive ends.

Luck that our GM at the time had the foresight to go with Eli Manning instead of Philip Rivers.

Luck that we have one of the best coaches in the game right now.

Give me a break. Luck is an excuse people use when they're bitter.

Stugots I don't think you will find a past or present GM who will agree with your assertion that the draft doesn't have a major element of luck.    Heck based on your "there's no luck in the draft" assertion, Reese should be blamed for drafting Chad Jones.   Reese should also be blamed for drafting Austin who gets hurt before the season started and Prince for getting hurt and contributing virtually nothing this season.   luck is a factor in all parts of the game.

Where did I say there was no luck? The point I was trying to bring out was that we have some damn good players on this team; way better players than the guys we beat up in New England, and that is the reason we won the Super Bowl.

Look at the Giants starting 22. Only 5 of them were signed from other teams (Baas, Boley, Rolle, Canty, Mac). The rest are all our draft picks or were rookie free agents. The fact that our scouting department was able to put together a Super Bowl winning team without adding a ton of high priced free agents says a lot about their abilities.

[jimmyz]

I like being lucky.  But I dont like being thought of as a team that is comprised entirely of luck.  I was hoping the Giants would dispel all notions of 2007 as being a case of mere luck but they found a way to label the team lucky again.

Oh well.  We do the same thing when we force a fumble and fail to recover it.  We call it luck. 

Maybe we thought other teams would praise us and be envious instead?  Well many are praising us and those calling us lucky are indeed envious.  It comes with the territory.  To this day people still call the PAtriots cheaters and still refer to Ray Lewis as a murderer.  Success breeds contempt.

[UniHamachi]

The tuck rule wasn't luck, it was the rules.  Like the intentional grounding called on Brady.  That's the rules.

[BlueMoshik]

Not really, no. I mean, Stokley got injured as soon as he got here. And Gilbride didn't like him anyway so it's not like he was going to play a major role. In any case Cruz's excellent play had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with talent, opportunity, and hard work. That's just the way I see it.

In sports there are always circumstances beyond the control of talent and hard work. You just called it "opportunity."  What is opportunity to you is luck to another.  The fact is that Cruz is there for reasons both within and beyond his control.  Nothing there diminishes his hard work and talent.  But if thats all it took, there would be a lot more Cruz's each year.  The idea is to work hard and excel when the opportunity arrives.  But the reason that opportunity arose may surely be considered lucky by any objective standard.   

In this sense, there is an element of luck in all aspects of life, starting from our birth, which is in itself a statistical miracle, thus a lucky thing.

The point is that "luck" does not explain the rise of Victor Cruz this season. Yes he needed certain circumstances to fall into place. But what he accomplished this year can't be explained by luck.

[BlueMoshik]

The tuck rule wasn't luck, it was the rules.  Like the intentional grounding called on Brady.  That's the rules.

Yeah, there's a rule. Strangely, it had never been invoked before and only a couple of times since, but yeah, the rule is somewhere in the books nonetheless.

That rule and what happened on the field have little to do with each other. Even by the definitions of the rule, that was a clear fumble.

[Section 101 Steve]

I'd rathe rbe lucky than good if it means more super bowls for us. 

[Sect122Mike]

Not really, no. I mean, Stokley got injured as soon as he got here. And Gilbride didn't like him anyway so it's not like he was going to play a major role. In any case Cruz's excellent play had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with talent, opportunity, and hard work. That's just the way I see it.

In sports there are always circumstances beyond the control of talent and hard work. You just called it "opportunity."  What is opportunity to you is luck to another.  The fact is that Cruz is there for reasons both within and beyond his control.  Nothing there diminishes his hard work and talent.  But if thats all it took, there would be a lot more Cruz's each year.  The idea is to work hard and excel when the opportunity arrives.  But the reason that opportunity arose may surely be considered lucky by any objective standard.   

In this sense, there is an element of luck in all aspects of life, starting from our birth, which is in itself a statistical miracle, thus a lucky thing.

The point is that "luck" does not explain the rise of Victor Cruz this season. Yes he needed certain circumstances to fall into place. But what he accomplished this year can't be explained by luck.

Certainly we all encounter chance, luck, opportunities, both good and bad, throughout our lives. I have no problem with the term "luck."  In fact, I think luck explains a part of the rise of Victor Cruz.  You clearly see the term differently than some here do.  I don't think you and others are disagreeing over Victor Cruz, but instead are disagreeing over the understanding of the term.  I have no doubt that Cruz is a very gifted and hard working young man who deserves accolades and hopefully a long term contract.  I also have no doubt that some fortuitous circumstances played out this year which were a part of his rise.  If not for injuries, he may not have had the opportunity to show his skills.  Certainly last year, his injury in the pre-season was a bit of bad-luck. 

[Cr00zng]

It's hard define the difference between luck and opportunity...

Opportunity is giving you a chance to achieve something that you have been looking for. You cannot achieve your goal, if you have not prepared for it if the opportunity presents itself. In another word, you have to be ready for it and that means lot of work that you need to put into it; as in being the right place, right time, and prepared when it comes. You can totally miss it, if you don't have all three at the same time

Welker not catching the ball in critical moment in the game or rather Brady not throwing the ball well, or any other opportunities, means that one of these two were not ready when the opportunity presented itself. That does not mean the Giants were lucky, it simply means that the Pats players missed their opportunities.

One could argue that the Giants players had something to do with the Pats players missing the opportunity, got into Brady's head, etc., and those people have some valid points. But calling the Giants lucky is hogwash; they have worked for this hard and had all three in place more than the Pats had.

[jimv]

Who gives a s---?  We won the frappin' game!!!

[Rambo89]

Every team has luck that goes on a run.  But I would think a team that has gone 49-31 in the regular season and 8-1 in the post season and has won two championships over the last five seasons is more than just lucky.......They are pretty darn good.

[LennG]

 I'd rather be thought of as lucky and Super Bowl champs, then best in the NFL and runner ups. Ask the Packers, who most still say was the best team in the NFL, with their MVP QB, if they would rather have been considered lucky and win the championship, or best in the NFL and watched the game on TV??

Over the course of the season we had calls go our way to win us games (remember Cruz's fumble that wasn't a fumble, which it really should have been a fumble), To Bradshaw being being blown dead by a sort of quick whistle before he fumbled, to some of the horrendous calls that went against us,and cost us games. As they say, it all evens out at the end.
 When this season started I felt we were getting calls that normally went against us. By mid season when the losing streak started, those calls were going the other way, and boy did we bitch.
Good teams can overcome bad calls, bad teams complain about them for years afterwards. Luck, good teams make their own luck.

[bldevil]

I don't think that good fortune or bad fortune don't exist.  I just think that the circle of things that people attribute to luck should be much, much smaller.

A farmer doesn't expect all his seeds to turn into cornstalks.  (OK, I grew up in the suburbs, my farm analogy probably stinks.)  But you'll get better results with better seeds.  The Giants brought in Cruz.  That was a good move, regardless of how much circumstance led to his rising to higher rungs on the ladder.